If asked to name any one thing which
more than any other typified Egypt, the average boy or girl would at
once reply, "The pyramids," and rightly, for though
pyramids have been built in other countries, this particular form of
structure has always been regarded as peculiarly Egyptian, and was
selected by the designers of its first postage stamp as the emblem of
the country.

THE
PYRAMIDS OF GHIZEH FROM THE DESERT.

In speaking of the pyramids it is
always the pyramids of Ghizeh which are meant, for though there are a
great many other pyramids in Egypt these are the largest, and being
built upon the desert plateau, form such a commanding group that they
dominate the landscape for miles around. All visitors to Egypt,
moreover, are not able to go up the Nile or become acquainted with
the temples, but everyone sees the pyramids and sphinx, which are
close to Cairo, and easily reached by electric car, so to the great
majority of people who visit the country they represent not only the
antiquity of Egypt, but of the world.

The great pyramid of Cheops, though
commenced in 3733 B.C.,
is not the oldest monument in Egypt; the step pyramid of Sakkara is
of earlier date, while the origin of the sphinx is lost in obscurity.
The pyramid, however, is of immense size, and leaves an abiding
impression upon the minds of everyone who has seen it, or climbed its
rugged sides. Figures convey little, I am afraid, but when I tell you
that each of its sides was originally 755 feet in length and its
height 481 feet, or 60 feet higher than the cross of St. Paul's, and
that gangs of men, 100,000 in each, were engaged for twenty years in
its construction, some idea of its immensity may be formed. At one
time the pyramids were covered with polished stone, but this has all
been removed and has been used in building the mosques of Cairo, and
to-day its exterior is a series of steps, each 4 to 6 feet in height,
formed by the enormous blocks of limestone of which it is built.

Designed as a tomb, it has various
interior chambers and passages, but it was long ago ransacked by the
Persians, and later by the Romans and Arabs, so that of whatever
treasure it may once have contained, nothing now remains but the huge
stone sarcophagus or coffin of the King.

The second pyramid, built by Chephron
3666 B.C.,
is little less in size, and still has a little of the outer covering
at its apex. All around these two great pyramids are grouped a number
of others, while the rock is honeycombed with tombs, and practically
from here to the first cataract the belt of rocky hills which rise so
abruptly from the Nile Valley is one continuous cemetery, only a
small portion of which has so far been explored.

Close by is the sphinx, the oldest of
known monuments. Hewn out of the solid rock, its enormous head and
shoulders rise above the sand which periodically buries it, and,
battered though it has been by Mohammed Ali's artillery, the
expression of its face, as it gazes across the fertile plain towards
the sunrise, is one of calm inscrutability, difficult to describe,
but which fascinates the beholder.

From the plateau on which these
pyramids are built may be seen successively the pyramids of Abousīr,
Sakkara, and Darshūr, and far in the distance the curious and lonely
pyramid of Medūn. These are all built on the edge of the desert,
which impinges on the cultivated land so abruptly that it is almost
possible to stand with one foot in the desert and the other in the
fields.

In addition to the pyramids, Sakkara
has many tombs of the greatest interest, two of which I will
describe.

One is called the "Serapeum,"
or tomb of the bulls. Here, each in its huge granite coffin, the
mummies of the sacred bulls, for so long worshipped at Memphis, have
been buried.

The tomb consists of a long gallery
excavated in the rock below ground, on either side of which are
recesses just large enough to contain the coffins, each of which is
composed of a single block of stone 13 feet by 11 by 8, and which,
with their contents, must have been of enormous weight, and yet they
have been lowered into position in the vaults without damage. The
tomb, however, was rifled long ago, and all the sarcophagi are now
empty. There is one very curious fact about this tomb which I must
mention, for though below ground it is so intensely hot that the heat
and glare of the desert as you emerge appears relatively cool.

While the Serapeum is a triumph of
engineering, the neighbouring tomb of Thi is of rare beauty, for
though its design is simple, the walls, which are of fine limestone,
are covered by panels enclosing carvings in low relief, representing
every kind of agricultural pursuits, as well as fishing and hunting
scenes. The carving is exquisitely wrought, while the various animals
depicted — wild fowl, buffaloes, antelopes, or geese — are
perfect in drawing and true in action.

Close to Sakkara are the dense
palm-groves of Bedrashen, which surround and cover the site of
ancient Memphis. At one time the most important of Egypt's capitals,
Memphis has almost completely disappeared into the soft and yielding
earth, and little trace of the former city now remains beyond a few
stones and the colossal statue of Rameses II., one of the oppressors
of Israel, which now lies prostrate and broken on the ground.

Though there have been many ancient
cities in the Delta, little of them now remains to be seen, for the
land is constantly under irrigation, and in course of time most of
their heavy stone buildings have sunk into the soft ground and become
completely covered by deposits of mud. So, as at Memphis, all that
now remains of ancient Heliopolis, or On, is one granite obelisk,
standing alone in the fields; while at other places, such as Tamai or
Bête-el-Haga near Mansūrah, practically nothing now remains above
ground.

In Upper Egypt, where arable land was
scarce and the desert close at hand, the temples have generally been
built on firmer foundations, and many are still in a very perfect
state of preservation, though the majority were ruined by the great
earthquake of 27 B.C.

The first temple visited on the Nile
trip is Dendereh, in itself perhaps not of the greatest historical
value, as it is only about 2,000 years of age, which for Egypt is
quite modern; but it has two points of interest for all. First, its
association with Cleopatra, who, with her son, is depicted on the
sculptured walls; and, secondly, because it is in such a fine state
of preservation that the visitor receives a very real idea of what an
Egyptian temple was like.

First let me describe the general plan
of a temple; it is usually approached by a series of gateways called
pylons or pro-pylons, two lofty towers with overhanging cornices,
between which is the gate itself, and by whose terrace they are
connected. Between these different pylons is generally a pro-naos, or
avenue of sphinxes, which, on either side, face the causeway which
leads to the final gate which gives entrance to the temple proper. In
front of the pylons were flag-staffs, and the lofty obelisks (one of
which now adorns the Thames Embankment) inscribed with deeply-cut
hieroglyphic writing glorifying the King, whose colossal statues were
often placed between them.

Each of the gateways, and the walls of
the temple itself, are covered with inscriptions, which give it a
very rich effect, their strong shadows and reflected lights breaking
up the plain surface of the walls in a most decorative way, and
giving colour to their otherwise plain exterior. Another point worth
notice is that this succession of gateways becomes gradually larger
and more ornate, so that those entering are impressed with a growing
sense of wonder and admiration, which is not lessened on their return
when the diminishing size of the towers serves to accentuate the idea
of distance and immensity.

One of the striking features in the
structure of these buildings is that while the inside walls of tower
or temple are perpendicular, the outside walls are sloping. This was
intended to give stability to the structure, which in modern
buildings is imparted by their buttresses; but in the case of the
temples it has a further value in that it adds greatly to the feeling
of massive dignity which was the main principle of their design.

Entering the temple we find an open
courtyard surrounded by a covered colonnade, the pillars often being
made in the form of statues of its founder. This court, which is
usually large, and open to the sky, was designed to accommodate the
large concourse of people which would so often assemble to witness
some gorgeous temple service, and beyond, through the gloomy but
impressive hypostyle7
hall, lay the shrine of the god or goddess to whom the temple was
dedicated and the dark corridors and chambers in which the priests
conducted their mystic rites.

In a peculiar way the temple of
Dendereh impresses with a sense of mystic dignity, for though the
pylons and obelisks have gone, and its outside precincts are
smothered in a mass of Roman débris, the hypostyle hall which we
enter is perhaps more impressive than any other interior in Egypt.
The massive stone roof, decorated with illumination and its
celebrated zodiac, is supported by eighteen huge columns, each capped
by the head of the goddess Hathor, to whom the temple is dedicated,
while columns and walls alike are covered with decorative
inscriptions.

Through the mysterious gloom we pass
through lofty doorways, which lead to the shrine or the many priests'
chambers, which, entirely dark, open from the corridors.

Though it has been partially buried
for centuries, and the smoke of gipsy fires has blackened much of its
illuminated vault, enough of the original colour by which columns and
architraves were originally enriched still remains to show us how
gorgeous a building it once had been. There are a great many temples
in Egypt of greater importance than Dendereh, but though Edfu, for
example, is quite as perfect and much larger, it has not quite the
same fascination. Others are more beautiful perhaps, and few Greek
temples display more grace of ornament than Kom Ombo or submerged
Philæ, while the simple beauty of Luxor or the immensity of the
ruins of Karnac impress one in a manner quite different from the
religious feeling inspired by gloomy Dendereh.

I have previously spoken of the hum of
bees in the fields, but here we find their nests; for plastered over
the cornice, and filling a large portion of the deeply-cut
inscriptions, are the curious mud homes of the wild bees, who work on
industriously, regardless of the attacks of the hundreds of
bee-eaters8
which feed upon them. Bees are not the only occupants of the temple,
however, for swallows, pigeons, and owls nest in their quiet
interiors, and the dark passages and crypts are alive with bats.

There are many other temples in Egypt
of which I would like to tell you had I room to do so, but you may
presently read more about them in books specially devoted to this
subject. At present I want to say a few words about hieroglyphs,
which I have frequently mentioned.

Hieroglyphic writing is really picture
writing, and is the oldest means man has employed to enable him to
communicate with his fellows. We find it in the writing of the
Chinese and Japanese, among the cave-dwellers of Mexico, and the
Indian tribes of North America; but the hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt
differed from the others in this respect, that they had two
values, one the sound
value of letters or syllables of which a word was composed, the other
the picture
value which determined it; thus we find the word "cat" or
"dog" spelled by two or three signs which give the letters,
followed by a picture of the animal itself, so that there might be no
doubt as to its meaning. This sounds quite simple, but the writing of
the ancient Egyptians had developed into a grammatical system so
difficult that it was only the discovery of the Rosetta stone, which
was written in both hieroglyph and Greek, that gave the scholars of
the world their first clue as to its meaning, and many years elapsed
before the most learned of them were finally able to determine the
alphabet and grammar of the early Egyptians.

I have said nothing about the religion
of the Egyptians, because there were so many different deities
worshipped in different places and at different periods that the
subject is a very confusing one, and is indeed the most difficult
problem in Egyptology.

Rā was the great god of the
Egyptians, and regarded by them as the great Creator, is pictured as
the sun, the life-giver; the other gods and goddesses were generally
embodiments of his various attributes, or the eternal laws of nature;
while some, like Osiris, were simply deified human beings. The
different seats of the dynasties also had their various "triads,"
or trinities, of gods which they worshipped, while bulls and hawks,
crocodiles and cats, have each in turn been venerated as emblems of
some godlike or natural function. Thus the "scarab," or
beetle, is the emblem of eternal life, for the Egyptians believed in
a future state where the souls of men existed in a state of happiness
or woe, according as their lives had been good or evil. But, like the
hieroglyphs, this also is a study for scholars, and the ordinary
visitor is content to admire the decorative effect these inscriptions
give to walls and columns otherwise bare of ornament.

I must not close this slight sketch of
its monuments without referring to the colossal statues so common in
Egypt.

Babylonia has its winged bulls and
kings of heroic size, Burma its built effigies of Buddha, but no
country but Egypt has ever produced such mighty images as the
monolith statues of her kings which adorn her many temples, and have
their greatest expression in the rock-hewn temple of Abou Simbel and
the imposing colossi of Thebes. In the case of Abou Simbel, the huge
figures of Rameses II. which form the front of his temple are hewn
out of the solid rock, and are 66 feet in height, forming one of the
most impressive sights in Egypt. Though 6 feet less in height, the
colossi of Thebes are even more striking, each figure being carved
out of a single block of stone weighing many hundreds of tons, and
which were transported from a great distance to be placed upon their
pedestals in the plain of Thebes.

THE
COLOSSI OF THEBES — MOONRISE.

Surely in the old days of Egypt great
ideas possessed the minds of men, and apart from the vastness of
their other monuments, had ever kings before or since such impressive
resting-places as the royal tombs cut deep into the bowels of the
Theban hills, or the stupendous pyramids of Ghizeh!